All Axess Exclusive With AMPED Artist Long Time Divided

Personified by their hard working mentality and grunge meets hard rock sound, Pittsburgh based rock/alternative band and last week’s All Axess AMPED Artist Of The Week, Long Time Divided are fast becoming one of the most sought after bands on the Pittsburgh scene and are starting to make a name for themselves on the national scene. The band is currently hard at work writing their second album, which they hope to release in the middle of the year.

We recently caught up with vocalist DJ Beckage to discuss the band’s major influences as well as their plans for the future. Check it out below.

When, where and how did your band form?I (DJ) was looking for a band to sing for and the original line-up of what would become Long Time Divided was already forming, including Bob. I auditioned and we wrote our first three songs–Breaker, Spiders, and Take Me Away–in like two nights. Later, Paul joined the band. After a little time, Slick become our drummer, and then we later Dean joined the band. It’s funny how things work out because we all have enjoyed working with one another creating music. We just have so much fun writing and performing.

How did you come up with the band name?I had a list of song names and we were working on trying to name the band and Long Time Divided was one of the song titles. It seems to have a double meaning for us because we all came from different musical backgrounds and yet when we came together, the creation of music is just so natural. What are your major influences?I come from the grunge rock background, influenced by bands like Nirvana and Soundgarden. The other guys come from these metal and hard rock backgrounds but also these brilliant flashes of blues, funk, and pop, which I think has helped us in our song writing process. We have so many avenues we can explore musically, making our music more engaging.

What are some of your career highlights to date?I know for me, it was opening for Fuel in Cleveland, OH. I’m a fan of Brett Scallions’s vocals and that show was so much fun. We got to play a great show at Peabody’s and then I got to be a fan and watch Fuel just kick ass on stage. It was great!

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a main songwriter?We sort of just build songs together. One of us will come up with a song or a riff or a hook and then just build from there. Sometimes it’s a long process to make sure the song is perfect to us and other times it takes one night, just depends on how we’re feeling. I think the best thing about our writing process is that it comes from a truly natural place: a place that involves our emotions which makes us care so much for each song. It’s just so much fun collaborating with Dean, Slick, Bob, and Paul because we’re able to be honest with one another and I think that shows in the music.

When can we expect some new material from the band?We’re working on new songs now, actually. We have roughly five or six new songs we’re working on right now plus an additional six or seven we haven’t recorded yet. Hopefully, around mid-April we’ll be producing our sophomore album. We’re excited.

What are your plans for 2015?I think again the big thing is our sophomore album coming out this year. I’m excited about recording it! We’ll also be bouncing around the East Coast playing shows, which I’m always pumped about.

Is there anything else you would like to add?Thanks for the interview. I always enjoy getting the name Long Time Divided out there. Hope everyone goes and buys our self-titled debut album, available on iTunes, Amazon, and pretty much everywhere else that sells albums digitally.

This week’s AMPED Artist of the Week is a, Subversion. The official music video to ‘Born Of The Sun,’ from the band’s brand new album, ‘Animi’ can be heard below. Subversion has made some serious headway …